Prior to the start of open enrollment, many experts feared sign-ups would drop this year because of deep cuts in federal funding for Obamacare marketing and outreach. But so far, enrollment continues to outpace last year.

A day ahead of the Sept. 27 deadline for insurers to finalize 2018 marketplace rates, health plans are no closer to getting answers about continuing the crucial cost-sharing reduction subsidies or enforcing the individual mandate.

The federal government's move to take HealthCare.gov offline for 12 hours nearly every Sunday during open enrollment reduces the chances consumers have to sign up for coverage in an already challenging enrollment period.

Health insurers are pleased the Trump administration wants to give them seven extra weeks to file rates for individual-market plans in 2018. But that move does little to settle their uncertainty about whether to offer plans at all.

The rate of enrollment in the state and federal marketplaces continues to outpace the previous year despite ongoing uncertainty over the future of the health reform law. As of Dec. 24, 11.5 million people were signed up for coverage.

The upcoming presidential election will have far-reaching consequences on the future of healthcare in the U.S., but no matter the results, the changes already forged by the Affordable Care Act are here to stay, a panel of policy and legal experts said this week.